Update for my Final Project!

Unfortunately I was not able to get in contact with a band, but I still filmed a music video! It is a narrative type of MV. The song is “By My Side” by David Choi, he is a popular Youtube singer-songwriter with millions of views and amazing official MVs done by wongfuproductions.

Basically the story is about a guy and a girl liking each other, it is quite obvious, but they just did not tell each other yet. Then the guy confesses and they got together. 🙂

I personally think that the theme/storyline so far should be clear, and so far there really are not many technical problems encountered. Close-up shots and rolling the camera when actors are naturally interacting work well by giving natural responses and develops the relationships between people.

For the coming week, I will fine-cut the video, and possibly look into some color-correction to give it a warmer, saturated feel. Also I will decide on if I should leave out the audio from the videos at all.

This semester in USA has been a very rewarding experience. By the end of the semester, I will have produced 3 shorts in total from the projects we are assigned. They were my very first stop-motion video, scene recreation video, as well as music video; I’m really glad I did put my thoughts into actions and filmed those. I also partook in more of camera work in my videos; I’m not very good at it but I believe my keen interest will push me do better in the near future.

One of the great challenges I faced was definitely Project 3 on After Effects. It is my first time using the program and honestly speaking I did not like it as much as video-editing projects. After all, AE is a very useful program in producing title slates and special effects, and I’d had to get in touch with it sooner or later in life, so I’m glad I had the chance to play around with it now.

My favorite part of the class would be the fun projects and screening. We have always been allowed sufficient time to work on our projects, so I never feel rushed when doing them. Screening each other’s works is also important because then we can listen to different responses and improve next time.

If there was one assumption that changed through my experience in the class, I would say I used to think my T2i is less capable of producing “movie-like” videos because of quality restrictions.Using the F1.8 50mm lens definitely helped the shots achieve a (at least slightly) more cinematic look with the aperture, and after looking at some available plug-ins, there is actually a lot that can be done in post such as color correction.

Kung Fu Hustle – Screening Analysis

Kung Fu Hustle (2004)

Directed by: Stephen Chow

Starring: Stephen Chow, Wah Yuen, Qiu Yuen

Kung Fu Hustle is about a jobless young man Sing who wanted to join a gang to earn some money. He was hired to fight against the villagers in Pig Sty Alley, who actually exhibit martial arts skills although their appearances do not suggest so. Sing is later discovered to have the extraordinarily rare potential of being a kung-fu master.

It was the first Gish screening that I have attended, and the movie just had many elements that made me love it. Firstly, the movie had a lot of witty Cantonese colloquial in its dialogue accompanied by intense fighting scenes which maintained a good balance between light-heartedness and intensity. Secondly, the style and setting of the movie were almost too appropriate to the era described, and these are all done by careful planning in the cinematic elements. In the passage below, I would analyze a scene from Kung Fu Hustle in regards to its cinematic elements with the basic visual components as mentioned in Block’s The Visual Story.

The scene that I have chosen to analyze is when Sing first arrived and challenged the Pig Sty Alley residents, coincidentally the Axe Gang’s first intrusion into the Alley.

The movie is set in Shanghai in the 1940s, and the architecture and costumes were cleverly designed to match the era. Overall, it is a coherent visual structure because not only the color schemes used were consistent, the setting and plot were well thought of. It also uses a lot of deep spaces in its shots – to showcase the environment and details. These elements all contributed to bringing the audiences into the movie and that era more easily.

The editing, especially the fight scenes, was very quick  which matches with the swift movements and keeps the intensity of the rhythm. The cinematography was smooth, with quick often rack focuses, and a lot of wide angle shots in deep focus especially in fighting scenes and showcasing the environment or the numerous members in the Axe Gang. It gives a high visual intensity as there is a lot of details in the screen which gives the scenes a very “busy” look. For example, in the Pig Sty Alley wide shot, there is different people hurt in every part of the building, alongside with the natural setting with cloth racks and billboards. It makes the audience think that the setting is legitimate and designed carefully, and not just hastily done.

One of the repeating patterns of shots would be the composition of these wide shots were mostly symmetrical and of a wide angle, as if it was a kind of signature shot of the movie. Dutch angles were rarely used, probably because the movie is not going for something fancy, but rather more straightfoward narrative.

The overall look of the film is analogous, which means it uses adjacent colors on the color wheel, and also similar shades of colors, as can be seen repetition of colors from the Pig Sty Alley building, as well as the costumes. The movie did not have to have a high contrast of colors because the visual intensity is high enough to keep the audience’s eyes busy.

Costumes were carefully picked to reenact the lifestyle of the people back then. Somewhere overdramatic which adds to the comedic element of the movie. As seen from the screen shots below, firstly there is rabbit-tooth Jane who is being uglified on purpose with that dramatic makeup which matches her personality in the movie. Secondly, the landlady had many curlers on her hair with a cigarette hanging on the side of her mouth, she really pulls of the bossy and in-charge look of being the person with authority there. These little details of the characters actually adds a lot to the movie because they are crafted unique characters with depth and personalities.

There are some specific moments when the tone of the movie changes into a cool tone of blue. It is usually the scenes that are “calmer”, either an intense setting before a fight, or the calmness after a fight where everyone is hurt. The change in tone adds some variety to the look of the film, since most of the parts in the alleys is consisted of beige and brown. The difference in color tones also suggests a different scene and environment which helps the audience to understand better the progression of the narrative. The tone in the same scene tends to be in affinity – costume, background – but may be contrasting between scenes as suggested by the different color balances.

I think the success of movie not only counts on the marvelous special effects done at that time, but also the carefully designed setting, costumes and cinematography of the movie. I highly recommend this to those who love martial arts movies!

Project Pitch

My proposed film will be a 4-5 minute music video. One of the reasons why I wanted to film a music video is because I am really impressed by how the shots were able to “sell” the artists and get so much across in as little as 4 minutes. Usually people swoon over the videos because of the artists, but I like looking t the cinematography and production behind it (occupational habit) and I like syncing the editing to rhythm.

Here are some examples of MVs:

1. Still Loving You – CNBLUE

(yes it’s the same Korean band, but I think this really showcased their beind-the-scenes production as well as their techniques, I really like this)

2. That Girl – David Choi

MV done by the youtube-famous WongFu Productions. I really liked the idea of infusing images from the projector.

The approach to the video depends on whom I am going to feature in the video. Firstly, if I am able to contact a friend who sings, or better, a local artist to feature, I would pick narrative + face showcase cross-cutting. It’s because this way a narrative is a more engaging way of getting the lyrics across, and showcasing the face and techniques of the artist would leave a deeper impression to the audience.

Production techniques that I would utilize is video editing, accompanied by post-production in color balance correcting. Visual design elements I will use are making use of color palettes – pastel colors, or darker bluish-green colors. The goal for this is to give the video a special aesthetic feel to it rather than just straight videos out of the camera. I may look into After Effects if time permits, but probably not too fancy stuff.

The equipment that I will use is my DSLR – T2i, light kits from TCOM, and color gels. For the song, I will pre-record it with a condenser microphone if available. Otherwise I may use a boom mic for it.

The primary creative or logistical challenges would be a decent environment to record the song, and also the background in where the artist would be showcased at. Usually they have some big warehouses for it, but I don’t think I can get access to any. Maybe Wolfe 120 is a good option.

Also, the editing would also be a difficult part. Music videos usually go with very short cuts, and one thing that I find interesting is that flash cuts are acceptable in MVs – people can jump from location to location, doing different stuff, yet our brains can still put the pieces together and make sense out of it.

I am looking forward to work with someone who has similar ideas, and it may be easier and adds more variety to the shots if two people are doing the cinematography simultaneously. But well, if others have their own projects to work on, we can still help each other out J

Ideas from classmates:

Studio from Allant’e

Stones throw on Wednesday right

Radio – local artists

For Project 2, I paired up with Eric and Su for the scene recreation project. We did the Samara attack scene from “The Ring” (American Version).

This project was the first group project I had in BGSU. It felt great to have people supporting you in a production.

The advantages of working together would be that work is more efficient since more people are in the crew who can help with the lighting, camera work, directing etc. and I think we did quite a good job in spliting our responsibilities on the set. Also you have reliable group mates to discuss your ideas with before the actual shooting, so you won’t feel like you are working alone. This feeling is magnified especially when your groupmates help carry the equipment haha! (I am done with carrying the camera tripod gelkit wirelessmic lightkit from West Hall to Kreischer. been there, done there, hated it)

The disadvantages would be that it is sometimes difficult to find a mutually available time period to work on the project. You are less free to express your thoughts and view since the majority controls the project direction. I myself am not much of a horror movie fan, so when I heard that the guys wanted to do The Ring, I was like “arghhh I’ll have nightmares!” but it turned out alright. That scene was not that scary 😛

I’m usually comfortable working with others especially with friends who have similar ideas. It’s really fun to hang out and get work done at the same time. I really enjoyed this combination because everybody had valuable contribution and we were efficient in our work. Shooting is always better with a crew (well, a size where everyone has a legit responsibility rather than just sitting around) but for the editing work, I’d rather go alone unless you could actually split the editing into a few parts. For a project of such a scale, editing could be done on one computer within two hours maximum so I think it is actually more convenient to assign one person to do so.

Highlight of project: The green screen part is so fun (and challenging). 1. We didn’t have cardboard so we had to handhold the green screen. And so as not to expose any of our crew members in the TV shot, we had Eric hide behind the background green screen hehe. 2. Since we didn’t have gaffer tape, we went to the gas station to get Hubba Bubba gum. It didn’t work and the chewed gum was all over the place. But at least we had bubble gum.

Next time when collaborating with others, I think I will need to have better communication especially about the props we need. Sometimes minor details are easy to forget – they are not lethal, but would have been better to have those stuff we need around. But so far I think our collaboration was fun and unforgettable! 🙂

Reflecting upon your experiences crafting your still image movie, craft a grand statement, argument, or manifesto about how films should be made, what films should be about, or about the state of cinema in general.

Film ratings is a collective rating by “objectively” subjective individuals.

I believe films are made with endless late-night deliveries.

Sometimes group work is like an EQ training sesh.

你好! ni hao! (hi) My name is Gigi Wong and I’m from Hong Kong, majoring in Film Production.  I enjoy photography and music, and I love watching youtubers like wongfuproductions or kevjumba.  I chose the States for exchange because somehow I just wanted to come here since I was in high school, so here I am 🙂

I hope I can take new courses and be exposed to learn new stuff that I couldn’t back in Hong Kong.

nightview of Victoria Harbour 🙂